In August I asked the forum for ideas for a small, walkable beach town in the US . . .trying to replicate our favorite place in Greece, without the 20+ hour travel time. I was grateful to receive many great responses -- including some very astute recommendations to avoid Florida during hurricane season.
We chose Avila Beach, California, on the Central California coast, for our first test. A 2-hour flight on September 22 from Denver to San Luis Obispo airport, then a 20 minute Uber to our hotel. Definitely easily accessible.
Our first impression was of a gorgeous little town, with a beautiful wide sandy beach. We arrived on a sunny afternoon and loved our ocean view room at the Inn at Avila Beach.
Avila Beach is very small … the main street has a few blocks of coffee/ice cream/t-shirt shops, three restaurants and a pizza place. Food was good, but limited and a little pricey. We didn’t see any breakfast places, so we were thankful it was provided by our hotel (large croissants & cinnamon rolls, egg casserole, orange juice, and good coffee drinks … lattes, espresso, etc.).
The downside, for us, was the weather. Of our six mornings, five started out with fog so dense we could barely see the pier a block away. Most days the fog lifted but the skies were still overcast, with a little blue sky late one afternoon. We did not pack appropriately. We never touched our shorts & t-shirts . . . wore long pants & light jackets every day. On our first day we bought sweatshirts too. I don’t know if this weather is common, or seasonal, but we weren’t expecting it. I did check forecasts before we left but fog wasn’t mentioned.
We had one absolutely spectacular day, with bright blue skies by midmorning. Sitting outside that day, with jackets off, eating clam chowder for lunch, was delightful. If every day had been like this, we’d have loved it. We live in Denver, one of the sunniest places in the US, and evidently gray skies make us depressed? Grumpy?
We spent our days walking -- on the beach, around town, and to Port San Luis, for lunch on the pier and to watch the sea lions. And reading; we brought a couple of books but luckily found a Little Free Library in town to supplement ours. A rental car would have been good, but we were specifically looking for a place we could enjoy without driving.
So that was an interesting little getaway, but the quest continues. This winter we’ll probably try some of your previous recommendations for Florida or Georgia, which I thoroughly appreciate. And I’m hearing suggestions for San Jose del Cabo … not in US, but again a short flight from Denver.